News of Ekaterinburg

Ural Dwellers Learn to Speak Chinese

9 июня 2009 20:26

Chinese is as the official language of the SCO, as Russian. By the summit Ekaterinburg citizens master the basics of hard instrument, entirely consisting of the hieroglyphs.

On the eve of the event there appeared special posters welcoming guests with eastern symbols. Many restaurants and souvenir shops used the great writing, which, by the way, is the oldest in the world: they hastily transferred and posted prices tablets with an invitation to enter.

The Ural militia-men were ordered to learn the most common foreign expressions. A few months before the summit, police officers were given the booklets with the phrase in English, French, German and, of course, Chinese. However, when we decided to conduct an experiment and asked someone to say a few words, none of the police men was able to do so.

By SCO time a newspaper «Go east!» («Idyom na vostok!») had been published in Chinese and Russian. And a publication of «The Evening Ekaterinburg» is planning a special issue with greetings in six languages of the member countries of SCO.

Ekaterinburg citizens will also be able to surprise the guests, for example, greeting them «Nin hao!». At the farewell it should be said «Tszay tszen». To show his misunderstanding to interlocutor, one can say: «Bu Dun».

«Chinese is difficult to learn,- says a student of the Faculty of International Relations in the USU Anna Manuylova.- This language has no alphabet. Each hieroglyph has its certain meaning. To make a phrase, you need to know how they are to be connected. A total number of symbols are approximately 89 thousand. In order to understand it's enough to remember at least 1500».

As an USU student Yuj Wen Yan, who came to learn Russian from China, notes that to appear welcoming, it is also important to observe certain rules of etiquette. At a meeting it is better to avoid familiarity and do not rush with open arms. You can only hold out your hand. Gifts need to be delivered with both hands. They are in no way should be wrapped in white, blue or red paper. And do not give a green hat, which is considered a symbol of treason in China.